The USS Indianapolis Monologue: Unravelling the Origins of Quint’s Chilling Speech in Jaws
- U I Team
- Feb 16, 2019
- 3 min read
One of the key and most chilling moments in the film Jaws comes when Shaw's character Quint delivers a harrowing four-minute monologue about the time he battled tiger sharks in the water after the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese Navy and sank at the end of World War II.
Shaw's impassioned delivery of the monologue is often credited with humanising the characters in the film and bringing them together. But, Shaw being Shaw, actually filming the iconic moment wasn't exactly easy. "We shot it twice," Spielberg told Ain't It Cool News. "The first time we attempted to shoot it Robert came over to me and said, 'You know, Steven, all three of these characters have been drinking and I think I could do a much better job in this speech if you actually let me have a few drinks before I do the speech.' And I unwisely gave him permission."
"I guess he had more than a few drinks because two crew members actually had to carry him onto the Orca and help him into his chair. I had two cameras on the scene and we never got through the scene, he was just too far gone. So I wrapped," he added.
But he pulled it together the next morning
"At about 2 o'clock in the morning my phone rings and it's Robert," Spielberg continued. "He had a complete blackout and had no memory of what had gone down that day. He said, 'Steven, tell me I didn't embarrass you.' He was very sweet, but he was panic-stricken. He said, 'Steven, please tell me I didn't embarrass you. What happened? Are you going to give me a chance to do it again?' I said, 'Yes, the second you're ready we'll do it again.'"
"The next morning he came to the set, he was ready at 7:30 and out of make-up and it was like watching [Laurence] Olivier on stage," Spielberg said. "We did it in probably four takes. I think we were all watching a great performance and the actors on camera were watching a great performance."
During World War II, the USS Indianapolis served in the Pacific Theater and was tasked with delivering parts for Little Boy to Tinian, intended for the bombing of Hiroshima. After completing this mission and a brief stop in Guam, the Indianapolis set course for the Philippines.
At 12:15 AM on July 30, 1945, the Japanese submarine cruiser I-58 launched two Type 95 torpedoes at the US Navy ship, hitting its starboard side. The Indianapolis sank in just 12 minutes, and approximately 300 sailors lost their lives on board.
The remaining 895 crew members were left stranded in the ocean, facing the danger of shark attacks, as Quint described. After four days, the survivors were rescued, but only 316 emerged from the harrowing ordeal alive.
The main points in Quint’s monologue remain valid. However, there are a few minor inaccuracies. For example, the veteran mentions that 1,100 men went into the water, while the actual number was closer to 895. Additionally, he states the date of the incident as June 29, 1945, when the USS Indianapolis actually sank shortly after midnight on July 30.
A third point, if it can even be considered one, is that many of the men in the water died from dehydration, drowning, or exposure. Nonetheless, this is hardly an issue since all those in the water, whether alive or dead, were prey for the sharks.
Aside from these minor and somewhat pedantic issues, everything else, from their mission to the types of aircraft that spotted and rescued the survivors, is accurate; Quint’s monologue is not only a haunting part of Jaws – it’s true.
Given that the monologue’s content is based on fact, the only remaining question is who actually wrote it for Jaws.
For a long time, credit was largely given to John Milius. According to Steven Spielberg, Milius delivered the speech over the phone, producing what he described as a 10-page monologue, which was then refined by Robert Shaw. In a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film’s production, Spielberg commented, “It’s Milius’ words, and it’s Shaw’s editing.”
However, co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb offers a different account. In an interview with The Writer’s Guild Foundation, he asserted that Shaw was the true author of the final version. Gottlieb explained that there were initially ten separate drafts of the speech, including one he had written himself. All versions were handed to Shaw, who reviewed them before producing the version that ultimately appeared in the film.
As Gottlieb recalled, Shaw “took it all, synthesized it. And one night, while we are all at dinner, he came in with a handful of paper and said, ‘I think I have the pesky speech licked.’ And he basically performed it for the table, and we all went, ‘Wow.’ And Steven said, ‘That’s what we’re shooting.’”
